[Xiao Wu has completed today's check-in.] [Xiao Wu: Don't worry, sisters. Let me see what's going on!]
After casually completing her daily check-in, Xiao Wu pushed open the door and came out, only to see Lu Chen's door standing open and Grandpa Lu Yun keeping watch outside, peering anxiously into the room.
Because she had come out in a hurry, Xiao Wu had not combed her hair. Her dark tresses hung loose, lending the usually lively, spirited girl a touch of serenity.
"Hehe, you're awake, Xiao Wu?"
Noticing Xiao Wu approach, Lu Yun turned and greeted her with a smile before returning his attention to Lu Chen's room.
By now, they could clearly see countless azure-gold motes of light continuously spilling from Lu Chen as he sat cross-legged on the floor. The fluctuations of Soul Power, initially rather faint, were gradually growing stronger.
Xiao Wu brought two stools over from the courtyard and handed one to Lu Yun. Suppressing her excitement, she said brightly, "Good morning, Grandpa Lu Yun. What's happening to Lu Chen...?"
"It's nothing. The Bloodline Origin within his Martial Soul has awakened, and he's just condensing Soul Rings on his own." Lu Yun smiled and waved a hand. Looking at Xiao Wu, who was already beginning to question her rabbit existence, he continued:
"You've only just awakened your Martial Soul too, Xiao Wu, so you probably don't know much about the Soul Master World yet. This is how we Soul Masters are."
No, this wasn't nothing, and it wasn't remotely how Soul Masters were!
Did you think Xiao Wu was a gullible little idiot?
Lu Chen looked like a Soul Beast right now!
Xiao Wu screamed inwardly, while remembering to take a picture and send it straight to the group with a caption.
[Xiao Wu: Lu Chen condensing Soul Rings on his own.jpg] [Little Fox: He looks so handsome when he's cultivating seriously, too.] [Xiao Wu: Sisters, I suspect Lu Chen has Soul Beast blood!]
Having just gotten out of bed, Hu Liena indulged in her daily fangirling. Seeing Lu Chen's handsome face lifted her spirits considerably. It felt like a lovely day lay ahead~
Then she turned her head and saw Bibi Dong beside the bed, staring at her with a shadowed gaze.
"T-Teacher..."
Hu Liena had asked for a hammering and gotten one. Meanwhile, the Spirit Hall guards about to change shifts with their colleagues once again heard the mournful sobbing from last night, plaintive as a tearful lament.
It actually sounded pretty nice. Time to make ourselves scarce~
[Little Princess: Lu Chen is a transformed Soul Beast too?] [Yanzi: Probably not. Lu Chen said in the Notebook before that he's human. Surely a God King couldn't get his own makeup wrong?] [Little Fox: Actually, I've heard Teacher mention that the origin of human Martial Souls has always been a mystery. Scholars throughout the ages have proposed many theories, with two enjoying relatively widespread acceptance ˃̣̣̥᷄⌓˂̣̣̥᷅.] [Back to That Day: Why are you crying?] [Little Fox: Thinking of all the care Teacher puts into teaching me moves me to tears.] [Little Princess: So what are the two theories?] [Little Fox: One is that human Martial Souls originally came from powers bestowed by gods. The other is that the earliest humans obtained the powers of Soul Beasts through certain methods that can no longer be reproduced.] [Little Fox: My teacher favors the first theory.] [Angel: Your teacher is very insightful.] [Netherworld: There's actually a third source of power, and one whose existence is certain. Xiao Wu and... definitely understand.] [Spirit Cat: Little sister, you've learned to be naughty.] [All the girls: Hehehe...]
Utterly speechless, Xiao Wu pushed the Chat Group panel aside. What did they mean, she definitely understood?
Fine, she really did understand, but none of that had ever happened, okay?
Why should a little girl just a few tens of thousands and six years old have to foot the bill for some idiot throwing herself at someone in who knew which timeline? And even... even having...
Aaaaaah!
I couldn't accept this!
Xiao Wu ground her teeth inwardly, hating that original-timeline Xiao Wu who existed who knew where. It was all because she had thrown herself at him through death and revival that Xiao Wu could barely hold her head up in the group anymore. Everyone treated her like an idiot!
She was so angry her legs hurt!
"System Sis, even though I knew in advance that condensing bloodline Soul Rings might come with intense pain, this really hurts way too much..."
Normally, whenever the group members chatted and singled someone out for torment, Lu Chen would lurk with great interest, watching the screen and enjoying the show. Right now, however, he truly had no spare attention for what was happening in the group.
The intense pain left him unable to spare any concentration to watch the Chat Group. He could only mutter instinctively to System Sis in his mind.
[Host, please keep holding on (´･･)ﾉ(._.`)] [Bloodline Soul Rings differ from the Soul Rings produced autonomously by transformed Soul Beasts, as well as God-Given Soul Rings condensed from divine power.] [The former only require mobilizing the power within the body corresponding to the relevant realm, and generally do not cause particularly intense pain.] [The latter only cause intense pain when challenging the age limit.] [Bloodline Soul Rings require the host to continuously awaken the Azure Dragon Bloodline Origin hidden within his body. Since the host is ultimately still human rather than the divine beast Azure Dragon, even the process of extracting the bloodline from within his body causes intense pain to his human body.]
In truth, there was more to it than what the system had described.
Lu Chen had to condense the bloodline Soul Rings for both Martial Souls together. Only through the connection between those bloodline Soul Rings could he use his twin Martial Souls simultaneously. On top of that, he also had to challenge the age limits of both first Soul Rings.
All these factors combined had resulted in the tremendous pain Lu Chen was now enduring.
[Host, you do not have to pursue the maximum age. Bloodline Soul Rings only cause intense pain during their initial condensation. With every subsequent breakthrough to a new realm, they will automatically rise to the limit your body can withstand, without causing any pain (•́.•̀).]
Although it usually seemed rather shameless, the system's highest guiding principle was to put Lu Chen first.
According to System Sis's calculations, the bloodline Soul Rings Lu Chen was currently condensing had already exceeded two thousand years. Even if he truly reached his limit, they would only be a little over three thousand years.
With Lu Chen's cultivation speed, combined with two two-thousand-year bloodline Soul Rings, he would take no more than a year to reach the Soul Grandmaster realm.
Based on Tang San's cultivation progress in the original timeline, even though he had practiced the Mysterious Heaven Skill and accumulated Soul Power since childhood, he had only broken through to the Soul Grandmaster realm at eight years old, far behind Lu Chen.
There was practically no difference in effect between a two-thousand-year Soul Skill and a three-thousand-year Soul Skill. What was there not to accept?
Yet Lu Chen did not think so. A thousand-year difference in Soul Ring age was greater than the upper age limit of a Soul Grandmaster's second ring!
That thousand-year gap might make no difference in the Soul Skill descriptions, but what about its effects on the Azure Dragon Martial Soul's amplification of ultimate strength and physical enhancement?
What about its effects on the Spirit-Suppressing Spear's enhancement of spiritual power?
Soul Ring age affected more than just Soul Skills. It also enhanced the Soul Master's own physique and improved their cultivation aptitude.
That was why Lu Chen refused to give up.
"Little Chen!"
"Lu Chen!"
As the pain grew increasingly intense, until Lu Chen could no longer hold back muffled groans and blood began seeping from all over his body, even Lu Yun and Xiao Wu outside the door realized something was wrong.
The latter determined almost immediately that Lu Chen was definitely not condensing Soul Rings in the manner of a transformed Soul Beast.
"You've reached your limit. Little Chen, can you still hear Grandpa's voice?"
Lu Yun directly released his Martial Soul. Yellow, yellow, purple, purple-Soul Rings representing the ideal configuration for a Soul Ancestor appeared. Wings gleaming with a cold metallic sheen spread behind him, actually producing a series of ringing clangs. Sharp talons covered in dragon scales extended. This was none other than the Steel-Winged Dragon Hawk, evolved from the Bald Eagle.
As he shouted sharply, a dense glow of Soul Power appeared over his dragon talons. If Lu Chen could not respond, Lu Yun would immediately interrupt his Soul Ring condensation.
When pain reached a certain point, a person truly could become unable to speak.
Lu Chen was in precisely that state. In response to Lu Yun's question, he could only struggle to open his eyes and give Lu Yun a resolute look.
To Lu Yun, that look seemed more contorted than anything else, but their years together still allowed him to understand what Lu Chen meant. He merely maintained the Soul Power gathered on his dragon talons without making any further move.
[Xiao Wu: Lu Chen definitely isn't condensing Soul Rings the way we Soul Beasts do.] [Xiao Wu: Lu Chen bleeding.jpg] [Little Fox: !!!] [Yanzi: My heavens, what kind of Soul Rings is he condensing? Did he violate the laws of heaven?] [Angel: Based on what he wrote in the Notebook and what he told Xiao Wu yesterday, he should have awakened extremely high-quality twin Martial Souls and innate full Soul Power. I suspect he may currently be enduring the pain of exceeding the maximum age for a first Soul Ring.] [Netherworld: He's someone worthy of respect.] [Spirit Cat: Far more of a man than that fiancé of yours.] [Netherworld: Better than that brainless fiancé of yours, too.] [Little Princess: You're already discussing marriage? So you're actually two aunties?] [Netherworld: ...] [Spirit Cat: ...]
Heaven Dou Empire, Heaven Dou City, the Crown Prince's Mansion.
Qian Renxue looked at the miserable sight of Lu Chen drenched in blood, yet respect and admiration gradually rose in her eyes.
As the inheritor of the Six-Winged Angel Martial Soul with innate level 20 Soul Power, Qian Renxue could be called the most gifted person in Spirit Hall's ten-thousand-year legacy.
With the enhancements granted by her divine-grade Martial Soul and innate level 20 Soul Power, she had easily absorbed a first Soul Ring beyond the maximum age.
Unfortunately, to be safe, she ultimately had not dared challenge a thousand-year ring when absorbing her second Soul Ring. Instead, at the suggestion of her grandfather and the other elders, she had chosen a Soul Beast over nine hundred years old.
Watching Lu Chen give it everything he had, Qian Renxue felt as though she were looking at a version of herself who had chosen a different path.
Lu Chen, you have to succeed...
At that moment, Qian Renxue was not the only one thinking this. Everyone in the group felt the same.
And as though answering their hopes, after another muffled groan, two Soul Rings floated out from beneath Lu Chen simultaneously.
Xiao Wu immediately sent a picture to the group.
[Xiao Wu: Success.jpg!]
In the picture, the pale-faced boy had already opened his eyes, a weary smile on his face.
An azure dragon's silhouette appeared behind him, and a brilliant golden spear lay across his knees. Two Soul Rings circled his blood-drenched body, their purple light illuminating everyone's eyes!
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